Descendants of Wilhelm Klein of Germany

From 1700 Germany to Norwalk, Ohio

This is the story of the Klein and Bremser
families who came to live in Elyria and Norwalk, Ohio.

The first of the Klein family to come to the United States were brother
and sister Marie Henrietta "Haddie" Klein and Henry
Klein. According to oral family history, Henrietta lost her wallet
and all her money on the boat coming to America. Haddie and Henry headed
for Norwalk, Ohio. According to Henry's niece, Minnie Klein, "...Henry
got work at the old Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad roundhouse and Haddie
found work for a family as housekeeper." Another sister, Elizabeth
"Lizzie" Klein (m. Ernst Loeffler) and then Karl Klein
came next.

Marie Henrietta was known as Haddie most of her life, as was her
daughter Hedwig. Henrietta's or Haddie's husband Johann Andrew Opel
came to America from Germany on 23 December 1882 and settled in the Norwalk,
Ohio area, where he and Haddie Klein met. They were married on 20 January
1887 and moved to a farm south of Deerfield, Michigan on Rodisiler Highway.
It was later called the Carl Goetz Farm. Johann, Henrietta, and baby Marie
are all buried in the Deerfield Cemetery (Lot#262) in Deerfield, Michigan.

The four siblings saved money and in 1892 sent it to Germany to bring
over their sister, my great-grandmother and father, Philipena Klein
Bremser and her husband, Heinrich Gottlieb Bremser.

Philipena, nicknamed "Bina" according to her granddaughter
Annabeth Beasley, was the daughter of Johann Jacob Klein and Katherine
Wilhelmine Seel. Philipena was the second of six brothers and sisters:
Wilhelm, Philipena, Henry, Haddie, Elizabeth, and Karl. Jacob Klein's
oldest son, Wilhelm II, remained in Germany and attained the highest
rank in Forestry. He was married and had three children by his first wife:
William (Wilhelm?  killed in WWI), Hedwing, and Curt.

Heinrich and Philipena Klein Bremser, Bina's
brother Karl, and their father Johann Jacob Klein arrived
in the U.S. on board the Spree on May 12, 1892, after a miserable
30-day voyage. The picture of the Statue of Liberty (top) was taken
on return from a later voyage in 1922. The ship was built for North
German Lloyd, German flag, in 1890. She carried 826 passengers on
the Bremerhaven-New York and Mediterranean-New York service. She was
eventually put into the auxiliary naval cruiser service and sunk off
Japan in 1905.

Philipena and her family arrived on Ellis Island in New York Harbor at
age 29, on May 12, 1892, on board the Spree. According to her daughter,
Minnie, "the voyage took 30 days and the ocean was very rough and
the boat rocked and most everyone was sick. They were told that the food
in the steerage class was not good and to take a supply of food with them,
she told of taking hard boiled eggs and they were so sick the couldn't
eat them and gave them to the helpers on the boat."

With Philipena Klein Bremser on the ship manifest were her husband,
Henry Bremser, and their two daughters, Elizabeth, age 4, and Anna Karlena
("Caroline" on the manifest), age 2. Philipena's father, Johann
Jacob Klein, also made the trip with Philippina's brother Karl. The ship
manifest reports Karl's age as 16; according to our information, he would
have been 14 or 15 in 1892. We can only assume that if, as reported, Karl
had arrived earlier in the United States and helped raise money to bring
his father and sister's family over, he must have returned to Germany
and come back to America with his father on the "Spree".

Minnie Klein wrote in 1984, "[Henry] had trouble finding employment
and was advised to go to Loraine where he might get work in the ship yards.
Whatever happened I don't recall [my mother] telling me, but her father
[Jacob] became very discontent and wanted to go back to Norwalk where
he could see more of the other 4 children. They moved back to 102 Milan
Ave. in Norwalk before winter set in at a time when there was no work
for masons which was Papa's trade. They were in such desperate circumstances
that Aunt Lizzie got Mama [Bina] a job as Chamber Maid where Aunt Lizzie
worked as cook. Papa stayed home and took care of the two small children
and spent much of his time knitting stockings for the girls. As time went
on Grandpa Klein became discontent and homesick to go back to Germany.
Nothing would content him but they promised if he would be content until
Spring Mama and Papa with the girls would take him back and remain in
Germany, but nothing satisfied him and he became very ill just from homesickness
and passed away early in 1894."

"Bina was still working at Gardners as much as she could, but became
pregnant with Edna and when the Gardner's saw how miserable she was, Mr.
Gardner got Papa a job at the old Lais brewery, and he would have to go
to Sandusky to cut ice on the Bay and often told how he walked the whole
distance to and from Sandusky, something unheard of in this modern age.
As time went on and Papa was better able to master the English language
conditions improved for them and they purchased the Homesteat 53 Elm St.
(This was sometime prior to 1896.) Winters were always hard since there
was no mason work to be had, no heated concrete in those days.

"To carry them thru the winter, Mama took in washing and ironing,
if my memory serves me right she did as many as 21 washings in a week
with an old wooden tub wash machine that had to be hand operated, pushing
the handle back and forth for hours. Often during those winters when Papa
have little or no work, they would have to run up a grocery bill at a
store at the intersection of Townsend and East Main. I always remember
wanting do go along, and that was no short walk. But the owners of the
store  [their] name was Erb  and they were also German and
he would always give us a piece of candy or a wiener. When spring came
and papa started back to work, he first thing Mama would aim to do is
get that grocery bill paid, and I recall definitely her telling it would
be nearly a hundred dollars for a winter's groceries."

My great aunt Minnie (Wilhelmena Phillipena
Bremser Klein), about 10 years prior to when she wrote the letter
quoted in this story.

In 1901, Bina "was pregnant... she got very large and she was of
small stature and for the last month or so... she could hardly walk. She
always sat in the rocker...and Lena and Lizzie would push Mamma around
in that rocker. When her time came to deliver they had old Dr. Schuerer
come to the house, no hospitals in those days, I was taken over to the
Yeagers and can still remember her walking me back. The Dr. decided Mama
could not give birth to the baby and it was either he save Mama or the
baby, and Papa wanted Mama sound and the child had to be cut away. All
I remember Mama said he was a very big baby and he was buried in the same
grave as Edna.

"As time went on, Grandpa had better mastered the language he got
plenty of work, but Grandma continued to take in washings and irons. At
some point Papa became interested in cement blocks and it was known he
was the first to manufacture cement block in Huron Co. and he made them
in the basement. You may recall there were stone steps leading to the
basement and he fixed a ramp so he could wheel the sand and stone into
the basement and carried down the bags of cement. When he would empty
a bag of cement it sifted thru everything in the house and mama nearly
went crazy. He would pound out whatever number one nite, the next nite
he would carry them out one by one to cure, and the pound out more and
that was a routine nite after nite.

Bremser Coal and Building Supplies circa 1910. The
silos increased business as the men no longer had to shovel the coal
into the wagons. The building at right has been updated and still
stands today. The railroad siding is behind the silos.

"At this time [in 1909] a Mr. Bell owned the buildings on R. R.
property and got to know him quite well. One morning as Grandpa walked
thru his property enroute to go uptown, cross-lots, as we called it in
those days, Mr. Bell stopped Dad and ask if he would be interested to
buy his buildings, since it appeared in the newspaper that natural gas
was going to piped into Norwalk and that would ruin his business, which
was mainly coal. Dad jumped at the chance, I knew [the price] for many
years, but it has left me, but it was not a big price, since mama had
almost enough money saved up to buy and she was so anxious to get rid
of that cement dust she gladly gave Dad the money. This was the start
of Bremser Coal and Builders Supplies. Lena worked for Dad for a period
of time, until she and Jake were married and then I took over the office,
if my memory serves me right, I must have been about 16 [in 1914].

"I never had a high school education. I was in my Freshman year
and they started having the girls who were interested and had the required
grades, to play gym i my middy blouse and skirt and tennis shoes, but
the school did not furnish them. I went home from school all elated that
I was going to play and told Mama she said I would have to tell Papa,
that was the blow, Papa said if that was what I was learning in school,
I was to get out of school and go to work. There were no laws in those
days that could stop him. Practically every one of my teacher called Papa
but he wouldn't give an inch. I had to quit school and did housework for
a family named Wingeter that lived at the southwest corner of Prospect
and League. I worked there until Lena and Jake were engaged [in 1914]
and then Papa made arrangements for me to go to Business College, on the
third floor of the building that for years was our Post Office. He paid
for a 12 month course, at the end of 9 month I was permitted to take substitute
work thru the Christmas Holidays, but Papa told me I could not take a
steady job when I finished my 12 months, that Lena & Jake were going
to be married. I faintly remember the [wedding] day was to be Aug. 12
[1914], I could be wrong.

"When I started working for Papa I had to be to work at 6:30 in
the morning and worked until 5:30. On days when Papa would be working
out in Country jobs Mama would bring me over some lunch at noon. These
were long hours, tiresome and lonely since few customers. The business
didn't flourish in those days, so to keep busy, I cleaned a room adjoining
the main office, painted it and

Great Aunt Minnie Klein on her 90th birthday in
1986.

bought a sewing machine, took a course in dress making and that started
my sewing and fancy needle work career. The coal business was started
with the old blind horse that Papa bought with the business. I'll never
forget she went a certain gate all day, but once she became familiar to
her new home back of 53 E. Elm and knew she was headed for the barn could
she trot!

Time went and Papa bought a team of horses and larger coal wagons, but
soon trucks came in use and our first truck was a Ford and a man by the
name of Henry Blakely drove the truck. Time went on and more cars were
being used and a man by the name [blank] had a garage on Townsend Ave.
close to where Route 20 branched in. He purchased coal from us and one
day he came in the office and wanted to sell Papa a Reo car, Papa's answer
was " I can't learn to drive a car" and the man said, "But
Minnie can learn." "No" was Grandpa's reply, "She's
too young." He persuaded Papa to let him take me out for a trial
run and when he came back he said, "Minnie will have no trouble."
That was the beginning of my driving days, no learner's license required,
I just started to drive, and learned that Mrs. Mich Newman was the only
other woman driver in Norwalk. That situation soon changed."

In 1922, after the end of World War I, Phillipena (Bina) Klein Bremser
and her daughter Minnie went back to Burgschwalbach for a visit. During
that trip, Minnie Klein met her cousin Curt. He later followed
Minnie to the United States and they were married in New York in about
1926. Pictures from the 1922 trip are available
here.

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Contributors

We are indebted to second cousin Ron
Miller of Michigan for contributing several hundred descendents of Hattie
Klein. We also thank our first cousin, once removed, Marge Miller More Barr
of Norwalk, Ohio, for her notes on the Bremser and Klein genealogies.